To many, the holiday season is the “most wonderful time of the year,” and when it comes to Walt Disney World, the most important time of day during that period is 4:00 PM. See, for guests at the Magic Kingdom during November and December, that’s the definitive time of their day. It’s when guests attending Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party can begin entering the park, and when guests without party tickets need to start wrapping up their day.

Decorations during the day

I’ve been visiting Walt Disney World for 30+ years, and learned that lesson the hard way back in 2009. That year, I was in Florida with several friends when we decided on a whim to visit Walt Disney World during a free day, and chose the Magic Kingdom without looking at the park’s schedule. We purchased our tickets at a kiosk in the lobby of our off-property hotel (this was in the nascent smartphone era, so not everything was handled online) and arrived at the Magic Kingdom around 10:00 AM… only to discover that it was a Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party day, and that the park would be closing to regular day guests at 6:00 PM. In other words, when 4:00 PM rolled around, we needed to start wrapping up our day and rushing to fit in any final attractions. Womp Womp.

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